Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

610. lead one a dance, lead one a pretty dance; throw off the scent,

play at hide and seek. Adj. unsought, unattempted; avoiding &c. v.; neutral, shy of &c. (unwilling) 603; elusive, evasive; fugitive, runaway; shy, wild. Adj. lest, in order to avoid. Int. forbear! keep off, hands off! sauve qui peut[Fr]! [French: every man for himself]; devil take the hindmost! Phr. "things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme" [Paradise Lost]. #624. Relinquishment.—N. relinquishment, abandonment; desertion, defection, secession, withdrawal; cave of Adullam[obs3]; nolle prosequi[Lat]. discontinuance &c. (cessation) 142; renunciation &c. (recantation) 607; abrogation &c. 756; resignation &c. (retirement) 757; desuetude &c. 614; cession &c. (of property) 782. V. relinquish, give up, abandon, desert, forsake, leave in the lurch; go back on; depart from, secede from, withdraw from; back out of; leave, quit, take leave of, bid a long farewell; vacate &c. (resign) 757. renounce &c (abjure) 607; forego, have done with, drop; disuse &c. 678; discard &c. 782; wash one's hands of; drop all idea of. break off, leave off; desist; stop &c. (cease) 142; hold one's hand, stay one's hand; quit one's hold; give over, shut up shop. throw up the game, throw up the cards; give up the point, give up the argument; pass to the order of the day, move to the previous question. Adj. unpursued[obs3]; relinquished &c. v.; relinquishing &c. v. Int. avast! &c. (stop) 142. Phr. aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben[Ger]; entbehre gern was du nicht hast[Ger]. #625. Business.—N. business, occupation, employment; pursuit &c. 622; what one is doing, what one is about; affair, concern, matter, case. matter in hand, irons in the fire; thing to do, agendum, task, work, job, chore [U.S.], errand, commission, mission, charge, care; duty &c. 926. part, role, cue; province, function, lookout, department, capacity, sphere, orb, field, line; walk, walk of life; beat, round, routine; race, career. office, place, post, chargeship[obs3], incumbency, living; situation, berth, employ; service &c. (servitude) 749; engagement; undertaking &c. 676. vocation, calling, profession, cloth, faculty; industry, art; industrial arts; craft, mystery, handicraft; trade &c. (commerce) 794. exercise; work &c. (action) 680; avocation; press of business &c. (activity) 682. V. pass one's time in, employ one's time in, spend one's time in; employ oneself in, employ oneself upon; occupy oneself with, concern oneself with; make it one's business &c. n.; undertake &c. 676; enter a profession; betake oneself to, turn one's hand to; have to do with &c. (do) 680. office, place, post, chargeship[obs3], incumbency, living; situation, berth, employ; service &c. (servitude) 749; engagement; undertaking &c. 676. drive a trade; carry on a trade, do a trade, transact a trade, carry on business, do business, transact business &c. n.; keep a shop; ply one's task, ply one's trade; labor in one's vocation; pursue the even tenor of one's way; attend to business, attend to one's work. officiate, serve, act; act one's part, play one's part; do duty; serve the office of, discharge the office of, perform the office of, perform the duties of, perform the functions of; hold an office, fill an office, fill a place, fill a situation; hold a portfolio, hold a place, hold a situation. be about, be doing, be engaged in, be employed in, be occupied with, be at work on; have one's hands in, have in hand; have on one's hands, have on one's shoulders; bear the burden; have one's hands full &c. (activity) 682. be in the hands of, be on the stocks, be on the anvil; pass through one's hands. Adj. businesslike; workaday; professional; official, functional; busy &c. (actively employed) 682; on hand, in hand, in one's hands; afoot; on foot, on the anvil; going on; acting. Adv. in the course of business, all in one's day's work; professionally &c. Adj. Phr. "a business with an income at its heels" [Cowper]; amoto quaeramus seria ludo [Lat][Horace]; par negotiis neque supra [Lat][Tacitus]. #626. Plan.—N. plan, scheme, design, project; proposal, proposition, suggestion; resolution, motion; precaution &c. (provision) 673; deep-laid plan &c. (premeditated) 611; system &c. (order) 58; organization &c. (arrangement) 60; germ &c. (cause) 153. sketch, skeleton, outline, draught, draft, ebauche[Fr], brouillon[Fr]; rough cast, rough draft, draught copy; copy; proof, revise. drawing, scheme, schematic, graphic, chart, flow chart (representation) 554. forecast, program(me), prospectus; carte du pays[Fr]; card; bill, protocol; order of the day, list of agenda; bill of fare &c. (food) 298; base of operations; platform, plank, slate [U. S.], ticket [U. S.]. role; policy &c. (line of conduct) 692. contrivance, invention, expedient, receipt, nostrum, artifice, device; pipelaying [U. S.]; stratagem &c. (cunning) 702; trick &c. (deception) 545; alternative, loophole; shift &c. (substitute) 147; last shift &c. (necessity) 601. measure, step; stroke, stroke of policy; master stroke; trump card, court card; cheval de bataille[Fr], great gun; coup, coup d'etat[Fr]; clever stroke, bold stroke, good move, good hit, good stroke; bright thought, bright idea. intrigue, cabal, plot, conspiracy, complot[obs3], machination; subplot, underplot[obs3], counterplot. schemer, schemist[obs3], schematist|; strategist, machinator; projector, artist, promoter, designer &c. v.; conspirator; intrigant &c. (cunning) 702[obs3]. V. plan,,scheme, design, frame, contrive, project, forecast, sketch; devise, invent &c. (imagine) 515; set one's wits to work &c. 515; spring a project; fall upon, hit upon; strike out, chalk out, cut out, lay out, map out; lay down a plan; shape out a course, mark out a course; predetermine &c. 611; concert, preconcert, preestablish; prepare &c. 673; hatch, hatch a plot concoct; take steps, take measures. cast, recast, systematize, organize; arrange &c. 60; digest, mature. plot; counter-plot, counter-mine; dig a mine; lay a train; intrigue &c. (cunning) 702. Adj. planned &c. v.; strategic, strategical; planning &c. v.; prepared, in course of preparation &c. 673; under consideration; on the tapis[obs3], on the carpet, on the floor. #627. Method. [Path.]—N. method, way, manner, wise, gait, form, mode, fashion, tone, guise; modus operandi, MO; procedure &c. (line of conduct) 692. path, road, route, course; line of way, line of road; trajectory, orbit, track, beat, tack. steps; stair, staircase; flight of stairs, ladder, stile; perron[obs3]. bridge, footbridge, viaduct, pontoon, steppingstone, plank, gangway; drawbridge; pass, ford, ferry, tunnel; pipe &c. 260. door; gateway &c. (opening) 260; channel, passage, avenue, means of access, approach, adit[obs3]; artery, lane, alley, aisle, lobby, corridor; back-door, back-stairs; secret passage; covert way; vennel[obs3]. roadway, pathway, stairway; express; thoroughfare; highway; turnpike, freeway, royal road, coach road; broad highway, King's highway, Queen's highway; beaten track, beaten path; horse road, bridle road, bridle track, bridle path; walk, trottoir[obs3], footpath, pavement, flags, sidewalk; crossroad, byroad, bypath, byway; cut; short cut &c. (mid-course) 628; carrefour[obs3]; private road, occupation road; highways and byways; railroad, railway, tram road, tramway; towpath; causeway; canal &c. (conduit) 350; street &c. (abode) 189; speedway. adv. how; in what way, in what manner; by what mode; so, in this way, after this fashion. one way or another, anyhow; somehow or other &c. (instrumentality) 631; by way of; via; in transitu &c. 270[Lat]; on the high road to. Phr. hae tibi erunt artes[Lat]. #628. Mid-course.—N. middle course, midcourse; mean &c. 29 middle # &c. 68; juste milieu[Fr], mezzo termine[It], golden mean, ἄριστον μέτρον[obs3][Grk], aurea mediocritas[Lat]. straight &c. (direct) 278 straight course, straight path; short cut, cross cut; great circle sailing. neutrality; half measure, half and half measures; compromise. V. keep in a middle course, preserve a middle course, preserve an even course, go straight &c. (direct) 278. go halfway, compromise, make a compromise. Adj. straight &c. (direct) 278. Phr. medium tenuere beati[Lat]. #629. Circuit.—N. circuit, roundabout way, digression, detour, # circumbendibus, ambages[obs3], loop; winding &c. (circuition) 311[obs3]; zigzag &c. (deviation) 279. V. perform a circuit; go round about, go out of one's way; make a detour; meander &c. (deviate) 279. lead a pretty dance; beat about the bush; make two bites of a cherry. Adj. circuitous, indirect, roundabout; zigzag &c. (deviating) 279; backhanded. Adv. by a side wind, by an indirect course; in a roundabout way; from pillar to post. #630. Requirement.—N. requirement, need, wants, necessities; # necessaries, necessaries of life; stress, exigency, pinch, sine qua non, matter of necessity; case of need, case of life or death. needfulness, essentiality, necessity, indispensability, urgency. requisition &c. (request) 765, (exaction) 741; run upon; demand, call for. charge, claim, command, injunction, mandate, order, precept. desideratum &c. (desire) 865; want &c. (deficiency) 640. V. require, need, want, have occasion for; not be able to do without, not be able to dispense with; prerequire[obs3]. render necessary, necessitate, create a, necessity for, call for, put in requisition; make a requisition &c. (ask for) 765, (demand) 741. stand in need of; lack &c. 640; desiderate[obs3]; desire &c. 865; be necessary &c. Adj. Adj. required &c. v.; requisite, needful, necessary, imperative, essential, indispensable, prerequisite; called for; in demand, in request. urgent, exigent, pressing, instant, crying, absorbing. in want of; destitute of &c. 640. Adv. ex necessitate rei &c. (necessarily) 601[Lat]; of necessity. Phr. there is no time to lose; it cannot be spared, it cannot be dispensed with; mendacem memorem esse oportet [Lat][Quintilian]; necessitas non habet legem[Lat]; nec tecum possum trivere nec sine te [Lat][Martial].